The Deal Mommy

Just a quick reminder to always re-check your hotel and car reservations as your trips draw near. I recently did a status match to Club Carlson (who owns Radisson, etc.) and received gold status.

Anyone who has been reading my blog knows my trip to Europe is just 10 days away, and it involves 2 nights in Paris. With Gold Status, I qualified for their weekend extend promotion, which is buy one night, get one night free in Europe. They also have 4 for 2.

My room in Paris had originally cost $192 in points bought from this Priority Club promo in April. However, with this 2 for 1 promotion, I was able to get two nights at the Radisson Blu Paris Boulogne, a much nicer hotel than the Holiday Inn I had booked, for $237.50. With my upgrade (free with Club Carlson gold), I might even get an Eiffel Tower view from my room! Yes, this is $45 more, but follow me.

Readers also know about the Radisson promotion where you can get 50,000 bonus points for just one night’s stay. I had already booked a room in Harrisburg to combine with the other two Club Carlson chains promotions, at a cost of $90. With this new promotion, I cancelled this room (now doing two nights next week in Hershey with the kids), and re-booked the new one in Paris. So, I’m saving $45, and still getting the 50k bonus!

And to recap, here’s part one:

For my upcoming trip to Tenerife, I had booked a mini car with Auto Europe for 8 days for $154. (For European car rentals, especially solo, my usual rules get thrown out the window as Auto Europe is pretty much always much less, points or no points).

I got an email from Auto Europe about a “summer sale”, checked my dates and class of car, and lo and behold it had dropped to $131! One quick email later, and $23 goes back on my AMEX. THEN, I got another email with a Father’s Day sale and the price had gone down to $111! That’s an extra tapas meal, AND a souvenir from the Paris Flea markets, gratis!

How has re-checking saved you? Please share!